Supply-chain corporate venturing through acquisition: Key management team retention

Acquisitions are often used as a way to engage in corporate venturing. The value of these ventures tends to reside in the knowledge and capabilities of the key management team members who have and maintain key inter-organizational relationships. Because their knowledge and/or relationships may be tacit and therefore difficult to transfer, retaining the key managers in the acquired organization is often a critical issue for the human resource management of the acquiring organization. They are also frequently thought to be critical elements in the future performance in global supply chains and therefore, should be a key concern of human resource management after the acquisition has been culminated. Using a unique dataset of corporate acquisitions in supply-chains, we examine how the development of the psychological contract elements affects retention of critical key global managers. We find that higher retention of the key management team members leads to higher performance after acquisition. We also find that the development of the psychological contract has a positive impact on the retention of key managers with global supply-chain relations.     

The efficacy of talent management in international business: The case of European multinationals

The focus of this study is on the efficacy of talent management (TM) practices to the performance and operations of international businesses. There are relatively limited dedicated studies on the value and effectiveness of TM as an identifiable international practice and its contribution to international business. Anecdotal research and consultants' reports have argued for an increase in the return on investment where TM practices are aligned with the business strategy. Conceptually, human capital theory is adopted to explain investment in high potentials in addition to the resource‐based view, which help explain the development of internal sources of competitive advantage, which are rare, inimitable, nonsubstitutable, and valuable. This article builds on knowledge by qualitatively examining managerial experiences of TM practices within 17 European internationally operating businesses with employees ranging from 800 to 200,000. An exploratory qualitative approach is adopted, with semistructured interviews as the main data collection tool. Findings accentuate the significance of developing the most valuable source of competitive advantage—people. We argue that, if TM is effectively implemented can result in the development of unique competences, which can ease the burdens of cross‐border business challenges and lead to sustainable competitive advantage.     

Promoting remote workers' psychological health: Effective management practices during the COVID-19 crisis

The aim of this study was to identify specific management practices that promote the psychological health of remote workers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. A two-round Delphi study was conducted among 28 teleworkers and 22 managers. A list of 60 specific management practices was presented and participants had to identify whether each one could be used in the current remote working context and, if so, how useful it was to promote psychological health at work. Results indicate that most specific management practices usually used in a face-to-face setting can also be used in a remote context (85%). Practices that show consideration, establishing work structure, and allowing flexibility were also identified as the most useful to promote remote workers' psychological health during the pandemic. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge about specific management practices, remote working, and crisis management. It also suggests specific practices that managers can adopt to promote the psychological health of their employees during a period of crisis, even while managing from a distance.     

Global talent management: Shaping the careers of internationally educated talents in developing markets

In the context of globalization, country‐level actions to manage global talent (e.g., development of immigrant‐friendly policies, policies to attract back skilled diaspora, or investment in the international education of youth) have been underresearched. The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of a country‐level global talent management practice on the careers and career success of its talents in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a developing country in Central Asia. Using qualitative methods, this study introduces new dimensions of career success evaluation for internationally educated talents in developing markets: use of knowledge acquired abroad and international aspect of the job. Based on these dimensions, it develops a model of career types. The career types predict the varying degrees of talents' career success and their involvement in sharing and capitalizing on knowledge, ideas, and international experience, which may have an impact on society. The study contributes to the field of global talent management and career success by providing empirical evidence on an underresearched topic in the underresearched context of developing markets.     

Global talent management by multinational enterprises post-COVID-19: The role of enterprise social networking and senior leadership

Multinational enterprises' (MNEs') workforce is made up of people from diverse backgrounds and different locations around the globe. The cross-border transfer of knowledge, skills, and best practices among MNE employees is important to maintain global standards and competitiveness. In the post-COVID-19 period, there is a greater need to exchange knowledge in the changing business environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the issues related to MNEs' global talent management, post-COVID-19. The study investigates the use of enterprise social networking applications for better knowledge exchange and tries to understand the moderating role of senior leadership team support in facilitating the usage of enterprise social networks for cross-border collaboration and talent management. After reviewing the literature and relevant theories, we developed a conceptual model, which is then validated using the SEM technique with 347 respondents from 12 MNEs. The study reveals the importance of using enterprise social networks for cross-border knowledge exchange in the post-COVID-19 period.     

Exploring the role of knowledge management practices on exports: A dynamic capabilities view

Drawing on dynamic capabilities view, this work provides empirical evidence on the role of knowledge management practices on export intensity in SMEs in a mature and global, non-high-tech industry. A quantitative study with structural equation modeling was carried out on a sample of 157 Spanish and Italian manufacturing companies in the ceramic tile industry. Our results suggest the existence of a mediating effect of dynamic capabilities on exports, hence the implementation of knowledge management practices is a necessary but not sufficient condition to improve exporting, requiring the existence of dynamic capabilities to reconfigure these capabilities. Findings highlight the relevance of knowledge practices to foster exports, providing new insights for managers dealing with dynamic capabilities in SMEs.     

Can We Stay Ahead of the Obsolescence Curve? On Inflection Points,Proactive Preemption,and the Future of Supply Chain Management

Great companies—like great products and great nations—have always endured a four‐stage life cycle: emergence, growth, maturity, and decline. Faster clockspeeds—enabled by compressed technology cycles and accelerated by new knowledge‐sharing routines such as crowdsourcing—are shrinking life cycles. What does this mean? Entities of all kinds now find themselves in a constant race against obsolescence. We thus ask a vital question,”Can we (as a discipline) stay ahead of the obsolescence curve?” Technological and sociological inflection points promise to change the rules of engagement. For instance, 3D printing, Big Data, and drones promise to change management practice. Budget deficits, poor skill improvement, and MOOCs promise to change academe. We discuss adaptation challenges and proactive preemption as preludes to presenting various visions of the future of supply chain management.     

A strategic risk approach to knowledge management

In today's business environment, strong forces of competition and globalization have created an urgency to focus how an organization controls and nurtures its intellectual capital. The concept of knowledge and its management has gained currency and momentum as technology has enabled thoughts and ideas to be more easily generated and distributed. With increased application of technologies such as the Internet, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and advanced software capabilities, it has been suggested the time has come for discussion of a new paradigm for knowledge management. Toward that end, this article examines the knowledge literature and reviews the experience of a leading private healthcare group, with the objective of gaining a better understanding of the issues that confront effective knowledge management in contemporary organizations. Finally, a tentative knowledge process model is developed herein, one which is intended to guide future discussion in the ongoing knowledge debate.     

From talent management to talent optimization

The term ‘talent management’ has been around for quite some time, but definitions abound around the globe, applications are varied and a plethora of measures—mostly tactical—are currently being used. This article addresses how the concept of talent management is of both theoretical and practical value in any industry or geography. How can we know when talent investments have been optimized? What is the talent lifecycle and why is it important? Additionally, the article presents and illustrates the People Equity framework that serves as a global bridge between important individual and business outcomes such as turnover, financial performance, quality, productivity, customer retention, and organizational processes and policies that drive high or low talent optimization.     

Labor,Risk, and Uncertainty in Global Supply Networks—Exploratory Insights

Arising from widespread outsourcing and, in particular, offshoring, goods and services are increasingly provided by supply networks that rely on global logistic systems. While the risks and uncertainties involved in this strategy have been widely acknowledged in the literature on interorganizational networks and supply chain management, labor conditions and labor relations—and related human resource management issues—have thus far been neglected. Starting from a perspective that takes into consideration that global supply networks are not only confronted with calculable risks but also genuine uncertainties, we explore the conditions under which labor may constitute a source as well as a means for dealing with risk and uncertainty. The study is based on a review of the relevant interorganizational network and supply chain management literature and is informed by an investigation of International Framework Agreements (IFAs) in 10 European corporations and their supply networks. IFAs—in addition to unilateral codes of conduct—could be used to detect and cope with labor‐related risk and uncertainties. However, our findings reveal that this is not the case. This leads to some tentative theoretical conclusions and implications for dealing with risk and uncertainty in global supply networks.     

Ensuring Supply Chain Resilience: Development and Implementation of an Assessment Tool

In today's tightly connected global economy, traditional management practices that rely on “steady‐state” conditions are challenged by chaotic external pressures and turbulent change. Just in the last few years, the world has experienced a string of catastrophic events, including a global economic meltdown, a volcanic eruption in Iceland, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a disastrous tsunami and power blackout in Japan, and political upheavals in Africa and the Middle East. Managing the risk of an uncertain future is a challenge that requires resilience—the ability to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of turbulent change. This research develops a measurement tool titled the Supply Chain Resilience Assessment and Management (SCRAM?). Data gathered from seven global manufacturing and service firms are used to validate SCRAM?, using qualitative methodology with 1,369 empirical items from focus groups reviewing 14 recent disruptions. Critical linkages are uncovered between the inherent vulnerability factors and controllable capability factors. Through mixed‐method triangulation, this research identified 311 specific linkages that can be used to guide a resilience improvement process. Pilot testing suggests a correlation between increased resilience and improved supply chain performance.     

Talent management and global competition for top talent: A co‐opetition‐based perspective

In an age of competition for top talent, lateral hiring or personnel poaching has flourished not just between rivals, but also among allies transcending across national borders. This article integrates the literature on lateral hiring and co‐opetition to develop a “novel” perspective of the co‐opetition‐based view of lateral hiring. A conceptual framework was developed to account for conditions under co‐opetition setting in different markets. Contrary to the popular belief that poaching from rivals is more beneficial, the present research demonstrates that poaching from allies may be more beneficial in mitigating the “winner's curse.” Indeed, poaching in the collaboration domain is characterized by greater access to information about the target employee before job change. Lateral hiring from allies in foreign markets can also be more beneficial given the potentially moderate stigma attached compared with those from domestic markets. The implications for firms and strategic human resource management literature are examined.     

Akbar's multiculturalism: lessons for diversity management in the 21st century

This paper challenges the hegemony of US‐centric perspectives in the diversity management literature by explaining how non‐Western histories and cultures may provide alternative contexts for understanding and managing diversity. In pursuit of this, the paper describes how Muslim ruler Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar conceptualized multiculturalism in 16th century India, and how his principles of sulh‐i‐kul, rah‐i‐aql, and rawa‐i‐rozi may be adopted to develop a sociopolitical environment conducive to managing cultural diversity in organizations, an environment currently lacking even in the majority of democratic countries in the world today. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who do we blame for abusive supervision?

Research has looked extensively at one side of abusive supervision (that is employee perceptions) and subsequently linked this phenomenon to supervisors' actual behaviour. We address this research gap by investigating the other side—employee characteristics as a factor related to the perception of abusive supervision (AS). Data collected from 443 employees within the Pakistani telecommunications industry revealed that employees' intimidation behaviours was positively related to their perceptions of AS, mediated by emotional exhaustion. In addition, recognition (from top management) was found to moderate the indirect effects of intimidation on AS via emotional exhaustion. Our findings challenge the assumption that supervisors are to blame for exhibiting abusive behaviour and identify a new, underlying factor related to AS.     

Connecting big data management capabilities with employee ambidexterity in Chinese multinational enterprises through the mediation of big data value creation at the employee level

Drawing from the knowledge-based dynamic capabilities (KBDCs) view, this study examines the association of big data management capabilities with employee exploratory and exploitative activities at the individual level. Furthermore, it also investigates the mediating role of big data value creation in the association of big data management capabilities with exploratory and exploitative activities. The partial least square method was employed to analyse the hypotheses using data collected from 308 employees of 20 Chinese multinational enterprises. The existing literature gives scant attention to the role of big data management capabilities at the individual level. The main contribution of this study is that it conceptualises big data management as the ability to utilise external knowledge (generated from global users) under the resource constrained environment of an emerging economy. Furthermore, this study builds upon the existing literature on KBDC to explain big data management capabilities as antecedents to ambidexterity at the individual employee level.     

How Knowledge Management Capabilities Help Leverage Knowledge Resources and Strategic Orientation for New Product Advantages in B-to-B High-Technology Firms

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Current understanding of how new product development (NPD) teams use knowledge management capabilities to acquire, disseminate, and apply knowledge resources to achieve competitive advantages is limited by a lack of compelling theory supported by empirical evidence. This study provides a theoretical framework and empirical validation for how an NPD team manages knowledge resources and strategic orientation to enhance its knowledge management capabilities, which, in turn, lead to business-to-busienss (B-to-B) new product advantages.

Methodology/approach: A total of 100 sets of data was collected from B-to-B firms in U.S. high-tech industries. In order to validate the proposed hypotheses, we estimated the main effects using path analysis in AMOS, and tested for interaction effects using interaction term regressions.

Findings: Our findings show that the two dimensions of NPD knowledge management capabilities—acquisition and application—are important but differential drivers of product quality superiority and product differentiation. In testing whether NPD management capabilities matter for two product advantage constructs, we confirmed that product quality superiority can be enhanced by both NPD knowledge acquisition and application capabilities, whereas product differentiation can be increased strongly by NPD knowledge acquisition capabilities.

Research implications: Our research confirms the importance of strategic orientation as a driver of NPD knowledge management capabilities, which enhances understanding of how strategic factors operate under a resource-based view. Our results further provide direct empirical support for the knowledge-based view of firms, in that an NPD team’s abilities to manage and deploy knowledge-based resources by acquiring and applying NPD knowledge lead to competitive advantages, for outcomes of quality superiority and differentiation.

Practical implications: Our findings have relevance for managers in three ways. First, NPD knowledge acquisition and application capabilities have differential impacts on product quality superiority and differentiation. Second, in exploring NPD resource factors as antecedents, managers should manage levels of NPD market intelligence, resource tacitness, and NPD resource deployment differentially to directly improve NPD teams’ acquisition and application capabilities. Third, managers should not underestimate the importance of market and technological orientations in enhancing NPD knowledge management capabilities. Market orientation drives both NPD knowledge acquisition and application capabilities; technological orientation drives NPD knowledge application capabilities. Originality/value/contribution of the paper: An NPD team’s knowledge management capabilities generally, but differentially, mediate the relationships of knowledge resources and strategic orientation factors with new product competitive advantage. However, simply enhancing NPD knowledge management capabilities is not a panacea for developing product competitive advantage in B-to-B settings, because of their differential effects.     

Framing the usefulness of eHRM in talent management: A case study of talent identification in a professional services firm

As talent management evolves from intuitive to evidence‐based decision‐making, the role of electronic Human Resource Management (eHRM) to gather, distribute, and analyze data becomes more critical. However, surprisingly few academic studies investigate the role of technology in talent management. Drawing on a qualitative case study of talent management in a large professional services firm, this paper critically examines how eHRM information technologies are framed as useful within talent identification discourses. The findings reveal two distinct but interrelated sets of processes employed to identify talent and suggest that the perceived usefulness and centrality of eHRM are influenced by how stakeholders shape their understanding of effective talent management. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technological,management, and persistent innovation in small and medium family firms: The influence of professionalism

We examine the effect of professional management on innovation in family‐owned firms. Since professionalism is a critical but controversial issue that can influence the innovative capacity of family businesses, we aim to determine if professional management improves innovation outcomes from a comprehensive perspective. Using a sample of 583 Spanish family firms, we demonstrate that professionalism in management exerts a positive influence on innovation from both technological (product and process innovation) and management perspectives. We also find that firms managed by external professionals are willing to develop higher innovative activity and that professionalism contributes positively to persistent innovation. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How knowledge management mediates the relationship between environment and organizational structure

Literature examining how knowledge management (KM) capability helps organizational structures cope with uncertainty is limited. Thus, this study builds and tests an integrated model to investigate the relationship among environmental uncertainty, KM capability, and organizational structure. Data from 161 firms were collected and analyzed. The results from structural equation model analysis support a mediating KM capability between environmental uncertainty and structural attributes. Environmental uncertainty tends to require firms to increase their KM capability, which in turn manifests itself in structural changes.